The Neighbor
by Dysthymia
Summary: MacGyver forms a romantic relationship with his new neighbor, unaware that she's been hired to gather information by an enemy. AU, related to all of my other MacGyver tales. Rated M for sex and language.
1. Chapter 1

MacGyver noticed someone moving into a houseboat nearby. He would have offered to help, but he had things to do: drop Arianell off at school, go to the Phoenix Foundation chief among his tasks. He could stop by later.

Arianell turned to Mac as they arrived at the school. "Daddy, I don't feel good," she said.

"We talked about this before we left," Mac told her. "You have to take your math exam. The last time you said you didn't feel good, it was just to get out of your math exam. It turned out you were fine."

"But I really don't feel good," she protested.

"I took your temperature before we left. You're fine. Go to school."

* * *

"Hard time getting her to go to school again?" Nikki asked as Mac walked into Pete's office.

"She really hates math," Mac said.

"And here I was thinking any child of yours would love math," Nikki teased.

"The school wants to test her for a learning disability."

"Good," Pete commented. "We're all getting tired of hearing about Arianell trying to get out of math."

* * *

"You have got to stop trying to get out of math class," Mac told Arianell.

"I had a migraine," she said.

"You call with a migraine every day!"

"I have migraines every day."

"Using migraines to get out of math class is getting old, Arianell."

The new neighbor poked her head out. "I don't mean to intrude, but I think you might be expecting too much from her," she said. "Also, her migraines could be real. I had them all the time in school. After I got my eyes checked and got glasses, they improved."

At the sound of the woman's voice, Arianell immediately hid behind her dad and peeked out from behind his back, glaring at her new neighbor.

"It is a little nosy," Mac said.

"A little?!" Arianell whispered in alarm.

"She glaring at you, isn't she?" Mac asked.

The woman nodded.

"I'm sorry. She has some trust issues," Mac said in apology.

Arianell frowned at Mac and hit him in the back with her math book.

"Stop it," he said.

"I don't like her!" Arianell hissed. "She's _fake,_ like... you know... Elodie's family."

"I'm sorry," Mac apologized again.

"Trust issues, right?" the woman asked. "It's ok. We can talk later. Maybe after she's done her homework and you've had a little talk with her?"

"I think I've just been asked out on a date," Mac nearly said, but being mindful of Arianell, said nothing.


	2. Chapter 2

Mac's new neighbor introduced herself as Dara Avery. "Up until a week ago, I was a social worker in Massachusetts," she explained. "I was tired of handling ridiculously untrue reports kids were filing against their parents, so... I quit. My brother found work for me out here and... this," she said, gesturing around the room.

"So far, it looks like your brother knew what he was doing," Mac said.

"God, I hope so. Apparently, there's someone willing to pay a lot of money just to get their child a history tutor. What is it that you do? Someone told me that all you do is run around solving other people's problems."

Mac laughed a little. "I'm a troubleshooter," he said. "I handle whatever problem my employers ask me to handle." He noticed a package inside a basket on the counter. "Looks like someone left you a housewarming present," he noted.

Dara looked inside the basket. "Wine," she said. "From my brother, naturally. He gives everyone a bottle of wine when they move to a new place." As she picked up the bottle, she discreetly read a little note that had been tucked underneath it. "You can help me drink it," she said. "No arguments," she said as she grabbed two glasses.

"You know those are brandy glasses, don't you?" Mac asked.

Dara looked at the glasses for a moment and shrugged. "I guess I left the wine glasses at my old place," she said as she began to pour. "So... is your daughter at home alone, or is there someone with her?"

"A friend of mine came over to help her with her math."

Dara approached with the glasses. "What about your other daughter? Where is she?"

Mac shook his head. "I only have the one."

"Oh? One of the neighbors said there were two girls," Dara said, seeming confused. She watched Mac take a small sip from his glass.

"She was a foster daughter," he explained.

"Where is she now?"

"I don't know. She ran away."

"Well, maybe you'll find her soon. Or maybe she'll come back."

"I hope so. This stuff seems a little strong, doesn't it?" he asked.

"Maybe. Probably. My brother only buys the old stuff." She noticed his eyes beginning to roam over her body. He was right, the wine was strong. Or maybe it was an ingredient that'd been added. She set her glass down, making sure she showed plenty of cleavage for him to see. "Does it seem a little hot in here?" she asked.


	3. Chapter 3

Dara moved closer to Mac as the drug in the wine became more and more effective. "Have you heard from Elodie?" she asked, prompting him into talking to her.

"Once," he said. "She called a couple of months ago, but no one could find her. She'd left the area she'd called from."

"Did she want you to come and get her?" she asked. "Was she with her mother?" Dara felt Mac's hand moving up her thigh. Apparently, they drug broke down inhibitions. Or maybe he liked sleeping with strangers...

"I think she was just checking in. She said she missed Arianell." He stopped talking again as his hand traveled further.

She could see she wasn't getting anywhere else with her questions. Not tonight. She'd got him too keyed up. Dara shifted again so that his hand would touch her exactly where she wanted it to. She had an "itch" now. She smiled as he began rubbing almost immediately. And those lips... they were already roaming all over her body as his other hand worked the buttons of her blouse apart.

Dara decided she wasn't going to go for just rubbing. She started on his belt, then his pants. She looked down. "Big boy..." she murmured as she took him in hand in order to guide him. Dara spread her thighs a bit further to accommodate him better as she moaned encouragement.

Suddenly, they fell right off the couch with a loud thump. Mac whispered something to Dara that caused her to laugh. "You're not serious?" she asked.

He was laughing as well. "No, I'm serious," he said.

"Oh, you bad, bad boy," she laughed. "You can fall off furniture with me any time you want."

* * *

As MacGyver left in the wee hours of the morning, Dara's telephone rang. She answered it cautiously. "Hello...?"

_"You had to sleep with him?"_ her employer demanded.

"You were watching?!" Dara asked. "Where are the camera's hidden? I can't be watched while I work, you ass!"

_"All you had to to was get the information I want, not fuck him!"_

"Look, Murdoc, you hired me to do something. I'm doing it. By any means necessary. You knew that it was a possibility when you hired me!"

_"Sleeping with MacGyver wasn't part of the deal, you slut!"_

"Oh, that's some way to talk. Didn't you sleep with your wife's sister? Doesn't that make you a slut?" She waited a moment before speaking again. "You told me to learn the whereabouts of your daughter by _any_ means necessary. That entails possibly sleeping with people. If he knows where she is, he's not about to divulge it yet. I'll have to work on him some more. And yes, if I have to sleep with him a hundred and one times, I'll gladly do it because he's _good!"_


	4. Chapter 4

a few days later

Arianell looked over at Dara as the woman went outside that morning. Her eyes narrowed. Her feet began to move, carrying her over. She stood behind Dara as she fiddled with something outside a window. "I don't like you," Arianell said.

Dara jumped. "You scared me! What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" Arianell asked. "I know what you did with my dad. I don't like it, and I don't like you."

Mac came outside just then and saw Arianell over at Dara's. "This isn't good," he said to himself as he smacked himself in the center of his forehead. He went over and began to pull his daughter away, apologizing for what seemed like the hundredth time. "You need to stop doing this," Mac told her. "You're not stray cats fighting over scraps. Go get in the jeep. You have testing today." He began walking her over to the jeep, just to get her going. "I'm sorry," he said again over his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it," Dara said. "This is how kids who've gone through traumas can be."

* * *

Dara came inside several hours later to find someone sitting on her couch. "It's not time for a check-in, Murdoc," she said. He'd disguised himself, but she could tell it was him. She'd worked with him in the past enough to know.

"Cut off the sexual relationship with MacGyver," Murdoc said without looking at Dara.

"That's what's working best."

"Cut it off. The girl figured out you're fucking her dad. The longer you carry it on, the more she'll interfere."

"Every time he's here, he has someone sitting with her. If she got it into her head to snoop around, someone would stop her."

"She's smart," Murdoc told Dara. "And she's a jealous teenage girl who thinks you're taking her daddy away from her. She'll snoop."

"I don't tell you how to kill people, so what gives you the right to tell me how to do my job?" Dara demanded.

Murdoc made a face as he pretended to think. "I hired you to gather information so that I can find Elodie, not so that you can get an itch scratched. Cut it off. I mean it."

"I'm _not_ cutting it off. I like him. He's _nice_ to me, unlike some other men I've been with."

"Then at least start working on getting information from the girl and MacGyver's friends," Murdoc said in exasperation. "That girl might actually know where Elodie is and isn't telling any one. Work on her."


	5. Chapter 5

Dara scowled at Murdoc's idea of trying to get information from Arianell. The girl hated her. It didn't take much for the girl to show it either. She went over the notes she'd taken after first glancing out the window to see if anyone was approaching. She was going to have to find out what that girl liked. She went to the window again and looked out. They were just coming home. She could just come up with some sort of excuse to visit...

Dara went out the door. She'd ask how the testing went. She decided to wait until Arianell went inside. It didn't matter to her if she got the information from the girl or her father, but she preferred the father. The daughter seemed to hate her, after all...

"So, how did it go?" she asked as she approached.

"As it turns out, she has trouble learning in large classroom sizes," he said.

"That's a little rare," Dara commented.

Mac nodded. "We need to talk," he said, changing the subject.

"We do?" Dara asked.

"Yes. Our... relationship is having a negative effect on Arianell. I think we need to end it."

"What?" she asked, not sure she heard right. Usually she was the one who ended relationships.

"I mean that we... should stop... having sex. She found out about it and it's really bothering her. We don't have to stop seeing each other."

Dara considered this. "Alright, but... I'd like just one more night before we cut off that end of our relationship..."

"I really think we should stop that today, not tomorrow," he said.

She came closer and whispered in his ear, just in case of eavesdropping ears. To add some emphasis, she pressed herself against him. "So... what do you think now...?" she asked.

"I... think we can end that part of the relationship tomorrow..." he said.

"And maybe we could go to my place right now?" she said, pulling him towards her houseboat.

"But Arianell..." Mac began to protest.

"Is old enough to stay home alone for a little while," Dara told him.

Arianell peeked out the window. That woman was dragging her dad away again?! She was NOT letting his happen. She ran to the door and called, "Daddy!" she called out. This had the desired effect. Mac turned around and went inside his own home.


	6. Chapter 6

_a few days later_

"So... how's school?" Dara asked Arianell, trying to open a conversation with the girl.

Arianell glared at her. "I've been being home schooled this week, stupid."

"I heard that!" Mac shouted from the kitchen.

"I don't like her!" Arianell said.

"She's trying to get to know you. Be nice."

"I don't like her and I won't be nice to her!" Arianell shouted.

"Hate her all you want, but you have to be nice to her no matter what you think of her," Mac told her.

Arianell shook her head vehemently. "No! I won't be nice to her! She's not my mother!" She got up and ran out, slamming the door behind her.

Mac sighed. Now he had to go after her. "I'll be right back, he told Dara as he went after his daughter.

Dara looked out the door after them. The girl sure could run... Maybe it would give her some time to find a little information no one would give her. She got up and riffled through some papers she'd noticed a couple days earlier. MacGyver had been looking at them. When she'd asked if it was anything fun, he'd said no. Dara bit her lower lip slightly as she scanned over the contents. This was what she wanted. Clearly, Murdoc would want it too. She memorized as much as she could before Mac returned.

Dara returned the papers to their proper place and returned to her seat just as Mac came back with Arianell in tow. The girl looked angry. Dara couldn't tell if she was mad that she'd been brought back or if she was mad that she was still there. She highly doubted that Mac had given the girl a few swats, even if she did deserve it.

Arianell went back to the seat she'd been in before and grabbed a book. She began to read, doing her best to ignore both Dara and her father.

Dara managed to get a look at the book before Arianell turned the book cover out of sight. Agatha Christie... maybe she could get her to open up by giving her some books...?

"You've got to stop acting like a little brat," Mac told Arianell as she continued to ignore him."This is getting very ridiculous," he continued.

"I'm not speaking to you or anyone else today, Greatest American Whore," Arianell said.

"Stop cussing!" Mac said. "You've been doing that far too much lately."

Arianell resumed ignoring her father, holding her book closer to her face.


	7. Chapter 7

"I have the information you wanted," Dara told Murdoc. "MacGyver truly doesn't know where she is. When she calls to check in with him, she doesn't say where she is. When the Phoenix Foundation traces the call, they go to the area, but she's already left the area."

"That's the same as last time," Murdoc said.

"I also have an estimated due date for Elodie's baby."

"Estimated?" Murdoc asked, sounding annoyed.

"Well, that girl wasn't exactly forthcoming with the doctor MacGyver took her to, so her due date is _estimated._ You should thank me for snooping through paperwork for you. I wasn't hired to do that. I was hired to _influence_ MacGyver to give me that information, which he didn't do. I'll be adding on to my fee since I had to do that."

"Fine, but you're still going to _influence_ his kid into telling you Elodie's location."

"That's if she even knows it, or even condescends to tell me. She hates me with a passion. I'll also add to my fee for working with her. By the way, I've decided this is my last job. Ever. I want nothing more to do with this sort of business again."

"Aw... do you think you're going to like the all American apple pie life with MacGyver now?" Murdoc taunted. "It won't happen. The man has a fear of commitment."

Dara slammed the telephone receiver back into its cradle.

* * *

"What's the huge pile of books about?" Mac asked Dara when she came over the next day.

"I'm attempting a peace offering," she explained. "Do you think it'll work?"

"I don't know. Try it. But Arianell's not home. A friend of mine showed up and took her shopping without asking me. I'm dreading what Penny will bring her home with."

"I hope Penny isn't an old girlfriend."

Mac laughed. "No, she's more like the little sister I never wanted."

"Good, because I'm not sure I could handle meeting any of your old girlfriends," Dara told him. "I can get jealous." She set down the pile of books and got closer. "Very jealous. I might do something I wouldn't normally do. Like... ripping off all your clothes in front of your old girlfriend. Just to make her jealous."

Mac couldn't help smiling. "We're not doing that," he told her.

"No, not right now... but some time in the future. Maybe the near future?"

"Right, maybe in the near future."


	8. Chapter 8

"How much longer am I supposed to try to extract information from a girl who won't talk to me?" Dara demanded of Murdoc two weeks later.

"Until I tell you to stop," Murdoc said. "Or until my daughter decides to go back to MacGyver. Whichever comes first. Get over there and go to work."

"I guess this means you've stopped watching me, then, because no one is home."

"You're watching them. Besides, didn't you stop sleeping with MacGyver? There was a time you wouldn't have cared what some teenage kid thought of you sleeping with her daddy. It didn't take long for MacGyver to make you get soft. That's disgraceful."

"Then I guess it's a good thing I'm quitting this line of work, isn't it, Murdoc?" Dara retorted. "I have somewhere I have to be." She hung up the phone and grabbed a purse from her counter-top. She glared at the phone as it suddenly began to ring again. Dara reached over and unplugged it.

* * *

The telephone rang at MacGyver's place, but as no one was there to pick up, the caller hung up. Elodie exited the pay phone booth and returned to her mother's hotel room. She wiped a tear from her cheek just before opening the door.

"I imagine you called again?" Holly asked. She was pulling on tall, black boots.

Elodie nodded.

"Anyone home?"

Elodie shook her head.

"Call the Phoenix Foundation. You can't keep going everywhere with me. It isn't safe. You know this as well as I do. I took on a year long contract. I can't get out of it, not even for you. I took the contract before you came back to me, and this situation is getting riskier every day. Make the call. I don't care if you don't want to talk to anyone other than MacGyver. I have to get going. I can't take you with me this time."

* * *

"It took at least 30 minutes of coaxing to get that girl to talk to me," Pete told Mac. "I don't think she's going anywhere."

"Where is she?" Mac asked.

Pete told him.

"At least it's only an hour away this time. Last time it was over four hours away and she was gone before I got there."

"She promised not to leave this time. We also heard her mother on the other end of the line. The woman doesn't want her with her because it's not safe for her or the baby."

"It's amazing the woman even knows what safety is," Mac muttered.


	9. Chapter 9

Mac arrived at the hotel Elodie was staying at. He had a feeling Holly had already left. He hadn't even asked for her room but was immediately led to Elodie's room, where she was napping. Apparently, Holly had given them a picture of him. "Elodie," he said, being sure to stand far away, just in case she reacted violently. Elodie opened her eyes slowly. Mac went over and helped her to sit up. "Arianell's been missing you," he told her. "Do you have everything you need?" he asked.

"Always," Elodie said.

"Are you still hearing voices?" Mac asked, curious about her mental state.

Elodie shook her head. "Exorcism," she said.

"What?"

"Mom got someone to do an exorcism. Something to do with psychology or something. I really didn't ask."

"I can't say I approve of that..." Mac said.

"You don't have to. Can we leave now? The baby's going crazy."

"Do you need a doctor?" Mac asked. "Has your mom even been taking you to a doctor? Do you need to go to the hospital? Is there any pain?"

Elodie stared at him with wide eyes. "Have you been into some amphetamines?" she asked.

Now Mac's eyes widened. "No!" he said.

"Well, you're acting like an idiot."

"I'd like to think I'm acting like a father,' Mac told her. "An idiot..." he mumbled as he lead her out of the room after grabbing her belongings. "I'm taking you to a hospital," he told her.

Elodie made a face. "I don't need it."

"Don't argue with me. Arianell would never forgive me if something went wrong. Come on."

* * *

Dara arrived home from a very eventful appointment. She could see that Mac's jeep was still gone, but Arianell was looking out the window, presumably for her father. At least the girl wasn't glaring at her this time. She had eyes only for the spot that her father preferred to park in. As Dara watched, a large orange tabby cat parked itself in front of Mac's doorstep and began to meow very loudly. The door opened seconds later. Arianell set out a small dish of food for the cat and another filled with water. Dara smiled; that was sweet. The girl had a soft spot for animals.

Dara went inside and set her paperwork on the kitchen counter. How would she break this kind of news? Or should she just leave town before her past caught up with her to ruin everything? She looked down at the paperwork, thinking while chewing her lower lip.


	10. Chapter 10

Mac arrived home with Elodie in tow. Elodie had been right. Nothing was wrong. Maybe Holly'd had Elodie under a doctor's care all this time...?

He could see the cat Arianell liked to feed had been over. The dishes were sitting outside the door. The cat had started to get fat after Arianell had started feeding it, which was right around the time Elodie had left before. He picked up the dishes and led Elodie inside where she was sure to be bombarded by Arianell.

Sure enough, that was exactly what happened. Nikki had stayed with Arianell the entire time he'd been gone and had now been almost knocked off her seat in Arianell's rush to meet Elodie.

"I think I might need to get out of here again," Mac said.

* * *

The knock on the door startled Dara. She hadn't been aware of her surroundings and failed to notice that Mac had come home. She accidentally knocked her paperwork to the floor as she turned to answer the door.

"Are you alright?" Mac asked as she let him in.

"I just have an upset stomach," she said. It was the first thing she'd thought of to say.

Of course, Mac had to notice the fallen paperwork and went over to pick it up for her.

"Mac, you don't have to do that. I'll do it," she said.

Too late. He was picking up the paperwork. Soon, he'd notice what it was about. He frowned. "An upset stomach?" he asked. "Are you sure about that?" He turned to her.

"That was the first thing I thought of. I didn't really expect this."

"Were you planning on telling me about this at all?" he asked. "Or were you just going to wait until it was obvious?"

"I didn't plan it! I don't want children. I've never wanted children. I have my reasons. How is a woman who never wanted children supposed to react to learning she managed to get pregnant? Am I supposed to jump around and tell everyone?"

"I imagine it's mine, so what reasons could you possibly have for not planning to tell me?" Mac demanded.

Dara bit her lip. Maybe she should just tell him the truth? Or maybe part of the truth? "My father was a spy. Or maybe he still is. I don't really care. He was never around. And my mother? She was a baby broker, Mac. She sold babies on the black market for the highest price. It didn't even matter to her what kind of people she was working with."

Mac took this information in. "Were you even a real social worker?"

"For a while," Dara admitted. "I changed lines of work because I was offered more money than I did working for the government." Her lips trembled. "I became a... locator. Due to my father's training, I could locate targets for assassins or missing persons for detectives. The skill set my parents instilled in me had a price: I lost a great deal of my morality. I'm so, so sorry."

"Are you telling me this is a job for you?" Mac asked. "Who have you been working for?"

Dara bit her lip yet again. "This is my last case. I told him I'm done with this entire business."

"Who?" Mac prompted.

"Murdoc. He wanted to know where his daughter was. You see, he knows about her baby and... he wants it... gone, or out of the way. Something. I was supposed to get her location from you because he can't find her mother. Failing that, I was supposed to try to get the information from your daughter, who quite rightly hates my guts."

Mac didn't say anything. He wasn't sure he could.

"If you don't want me around, I'll leave tonight," Dara said. "I know how hatred works. Mac, I want you to know... it wasn't all fake. I do love you."

"You _used _me. I don't appreciate that. Arianell was right when she said there was something off about you," he finally said. "I should have listened to her."

Dara watched him walk out.

* * *

"You're sure you're done here?" Murdoc asked as Dara got into the boat he'd brought. "Are you sure you don't want to play the reformed, penitent criminal for MacGyver?"

"He doesn't want me anymore," Dara said. "I think you knew that would happen if he found out the truth. Just get me out of here before he comes to his senses and has me hauled off."

Murdoc shrugged. "I can send someone else into the situation."

"Don't even try it. He'd going to be extra wary now. Any one new coming along will raise all sorts of white flags."

"A suggestion," Murdoc said as they sped off. "Take your pay and hide. Stay out of sight. Don't communicate with any one you know."

"So you're not planning to kill me for quitting the job?"

"As pathetic as it sounds, no. I promised someone I wouldn't kill everyone I won't kill everyone who pisses me off. You take your money and go deep. Don't let anyone know who you are. In your _former_ line of work, you don't want anyone to know the truth because _anyone _could plan your demise at anytime. Do you understand the warning?"

"You're saying someone might be after me. I get the message. I'll stay low."

* * *

_sequel to come..._


End file.
